The Roots captivated crowds inside and outside The Mohawk on Saturday afternoon with a 75-minute set driven start to finish by Questlove's body-moving rhythms. A nightly TV gig has likely contributed to the wildly entertaining interplay among rapper Black Thought, sousaphone player Tuba Gooding Jr. and guitarist Kirk Douglas.

At ACL Live on Saturday night, Nas went old school, revisiting his classic debut "Illmatic" with producers DJ Premiere and Pete Rock on turntables. The takeaway: The rapper who spat the line "Life's a bitch and then you die" when he was 20 has a new one on deck 20 years later called "Life Is Good."

Ruthie Foster, working solo, introduced her first selection saying, "My band gave me a hard time, but I want to sing about cotton fields, that's right, cotton fields." She dedicated Guthrie's "Black Wind Blowing" to her mother, who grew up picking cotton - and hated it. Guthrie's song captures some reasons why.

Lila Downs took the stage with a five-piece band, but her introduction, and her voice, sold her song.

"Woody Guthrie's words, his spirit and his path just gave me strength," she said. "It's not about immigration; it's about the human condition. He was into reminding us of that." Downs and the band then fused "Pastures of Plenty" with "This Land is Your Land" and drew tears and cheers.

The Hobart Bros. &amp; Lil' Sis, Jon Dee Graham, Freedy Johnston and Susan Cowsill, used a two-hour block during a Friday afternoon at Lucy's Fried Chicken in south Austin to deliver individual sets, solo and with a small parade of sympathetic musicians, to build to a grand finale, a short, electrified, lyric-powered real-deal rock 'n' roll show that piqued more than a little interest in their new CD, "At Least We Have Each Other" (Freedom Records).

Jim Beal Jr.

SURPRISES

A pleasant surprise: San Antonio rock/punk heroines Girl in a Coma slid into a row of chairs at St. David's Bethell Hall to catch part of the Woody Guthrie Tribute, including songs by their friend David Garza.

St. David's Episcopal Church, with a venue in its sanctuary and in the Bethell Hall, was a pleasant surprise all on its own. With its cafe serving food, coffee, beer and wine late into the night and a cadre of helpful, friendly people, St. David's was a sanctuary indeed.

Jim Beal Jr.

Even with an out-of-nowhere No. 1, fun. is the kind of newbie pop band you would expect to see backed by tracks at a theme park. But the trio - expanded to a full band live - had no trouble commanding the stage and moving the crowd at Stubb's on Friday night. Singer Nate Ruess had the elastic-faced panache of a prep-school Mick Jagger, though if he mussed keyboard player Emily Moore's hair one more time, she would have been within her rights to smack him.

Jim Beal Jr.

The unpleasant surprise: Parking in downtown Austin near the East Sixth Street showcase/convention center epicenter has long been at a premium. This year, parking, if you could find it, cost $20 and $40, and there were reports of lots charging $60.

Jim Beal Jr.

STRANGE SIGHTS AND SOUNDS

Guitarist Gary Clark Jr. may be the baddest player on the Austin scene right now, but his falsetto on "Please Come Home" would give Bruno Mars a run for his money. Of course, he cut the song in two with a solo that could have set Mars' pompadour on fire.

Jim Kiest

Leslie (Leslie Cochran), the legendary cross-dressing street character, advocate for the homeless and three-time Austin mayoral candidate, died March 8, just before SXSW started. It appeared as if a few guys were trying to fill his high heels. They had neither the legs nor the commitment to pull it off.